Govett-Brewster presents Maria Lind
The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre will support a visit to Aotearoa New Zealand by curator, writer and educator Maria Lind, with a series of events throughout the country to build knowledge and connection with local curators.
Kirna-based Lind is the current director of Kin Museum of Contemporary Art, the northernmost museum in the Swedish Arctic, embedded within Indigenous Sámi territories. The focus of her work is the space where curatorial and educational practices can intersect and expand, supported by experimental methodologies and place-based Indigenous-led work.
In addition to presenting the first Monica Brewster Evening lecture of the 2026 programme at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre in March, Lind will work with art institutions across Aotearoa to share her knowledge and insight, discovering and engaging with local creative practice, and contributing to wider sector development.
The visit is being coordinated by Lleah Smith, Head of Public Practice + Creative Enquiry at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, who has previously worked with Lind at Kin in Sweden.
“The Gallery is honoured to welcome Maria Lind to Aotearoa. Her work at Kin Museum of Contemporary Art, rooted in the principle to ‘dig where you stand’ resonates strongly with our own dedication to uplifting creative practices grounded in Taranaki,” Lleah said.
“Facilitating Maria’s visit reflects our values of driving critical conversations and connecting communities by working with cultural organisations around the motu who share this purpose of generating meaningful international dialogue and networks.”
In addition to her talk in Ngāmotu on Tuesday 10 March 2026 at 6pm, Maria will take part in a series of public and private programmes and events in partnership with Te Tuhi and Artspace Aotearoa, Tamaki Makaurau; Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui; Te Papa, Poneke; and The Physics Room, Christchurch Art Gallery and Blue Oyster in Otautahi Christchurch.
Specific details will be available from each of the participating institutions.
Maria Lind - Biography
Maria Lind is a curator, writer and educator from Stockholm.
She is currently the director Kin Museum of Contemporary Art, Kiruna, Sweden. From 2020 to 2023 she was the counsellor of culture at the embassy of Sweden, Moscow.
She was the director of Stockholm’s Tensta konsthall 2011-18, the artistic director of the 11th Gwangju Biennale, the director of the graduate program, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (2008-2010) and director of Iaspis in Stockholm (2005-2007).
From 2002-2004 she was the director of Kunstverein München and in 1998, co-curator of Europe’s itinerant biennial, Manifesta 2 in Luxembourg.
In 2015 she curated Future Light for the first Vienna Biennial, and in 2019 she co-curated the Art Encounters Biennial in Timisoara.
She has taught widely since the early 1990s, including as professor of artistic research at the Art Academy in Oslo 2015-18, and is currently a lecturer at Konstfack’s CuratorLab.
She has contributed widely to newspapers, magazines, catalogues and other publications. She is the 2009 recipient of the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement.
In 2010 Selected Maria Lind Writing was published by Sternberg Press, and Seven Years: The Rematerialization Art from 2011 to 2017 appeared in the fall of 2019. In 2021, Konstringar: Vad gör samtidskonsten? was published by Natur & Kultur.
Tensta Museum: Reports from New Sweden (2021) and The New Model (2020) are two publications reflecting long-term projects at Tensta konsthall, both published by the art center and Sternberg Press.